Content 101: Overcoming Creative Obstacles

There are so many hurdles you’ll need to surpass when creating content – especially if you’re not familiar with the topic. One thing in particular is something you’ll need to understand before you jump into a career in content creation: you’ll learn, whether you like it or not. Becoming an expert in everything is essential for every content writer and anyone else in the field. This brings us to lesson #1:

Lesson#1: You Will Learn the Topic – whether you like it or not.

When you want to make a living creating content,you have a long haul ahead of you before you can pick and choose your topics. You will have to learn about industries, products and topics you either hate, or don’t care about at all. That’s irrelevant when it comes to content creation – you have to learn all the intricacies of whatever it is you need to write about, then figure out how to make it appealing. This brings us to the second major issue you’ll face…

Lesson#2: Keep it Interesting.

I’m a dancer, artist, and overall creative type.Once I realized that content writing (and other forms of content creation) was the best way to make a living with my unique skill set, I quickly learned how to become creative in a different way – by putting a creative spin on the most tedious topics imaginable. Some of my masterpieces are for clients like Walk-In Bathtub manufacturers and Merchant Cash Advance companies. When it comes to content, learning how to make things like this interesting for the general public is a huge challenge. You need to think outside the box – content exploration tools like Moz,Ahrefs, and Buzzsumo are great for getting the wheels turning.

Lesson#3: Make the Executive Decision.

When you’re dealing with clients, it’s common that they don’t quite understand why you’re blogging about a topic that seems totally unrelated to their goals. Keep your cool – your goal when creating content is to figure out what their customers want to read. What will keep the target audience engaged? You should know the answer to this better than the client if you’re doing the job right. For example, if you’re creating content for a product line, you can only write so much about how great the product is –you need to create content related to their industry, the interests and concerns of their target market, and always keep things unique. No one wants to read 100 product reviews on the website’s blog.

Lesson#4: Expand Your Skill Set.

Content creation is ever-evolving, and to get the job done you’ll need more than words. I’ve expanded into graphics, videos, whiteboard animation, infographics, and all the rest – it’s essential. I would highly recommend gaining a basic knowledge of every type of content. Knowing all of them will sharpen your skills in your main area of expertise. Here are a few helpful tools:

Most of all, keep your finger on the pulse of everything, no matter what. The world moves too fast for us to keep up with most of the time – to consistently create engaging content, you need to catch the gems that fly by. And always remember: Content Is King.